Chapter XV: Appendix: VII

(a) A SECRET RELIGION IN THE HINDUKUSH [THE PAMIR REGION] AND IN THE LEBANON.

I.—THE MULÁIS OF THE HINDUKUSH.

A number of conjectures as to the origin of the word “Mulái,” all of which are incorrect, have been made by eminent writers unacquainted with Arabic or the meaning of its theological history and terms. A few of these conjectures, however, go very near some fact or view connected with the “Muláis.” The word may not mean “terrestrial gods,” but there are no other, for practical purposes, in the creed of the “Muláis.” It is certainly not a corruption of “Muláhid” or “heretic,” if not “atheist,” although this term has been specially applied to them by their enemies. It can have nothing whatever to do etymologically with “Muwáhidin” or worshippers of “One” [God], though they, no doubt, call themselves so, _i.e._, “Unitarians.” There is this additional difficulty, moreover, introduced into the question, that no name can be conclusive as to the esoteric appellation of a sect that has been obliged to practise “Conformity” or “Pious fraud” or “concealment” of its religion, in order to escape persecution or wholesale massacre. The Shiahs,[127] whose belief, in the hereditary succession, through the descendants of A’li, of the _spiritual_ “Imámat” or leadership or apostleship of the prophet Muhammad, rendered them overt or covert enemies of those Sunni rulers who held the _temporal_ power or “the Khiláfat” (misspelt as “the Caliphate”), were, and are, allowed to practise “Taqqîa” (which I have rendered as “Conformity”) outwardly and the more exaggerated or exclusive a particular A’liite or Shiite sect, the more careful had it to be. The Sunni and Shiah may both publicly confess “There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet”; but the Shiah adds under his breath, “A’li is the Deputy (Governor) of God and the heir of the prophet of God.” Now this word for “Deputy” is “_vali_,” “to be close to,” whether it be to God, a king, a priest, a master, or other position of eminence in Arabian belief, society, history, or intellectual creations.[128] “Maulá” or “Mulá” comes from the same root and is generally applied to a spiritual master, but, among the Shiahs, specially to their “LORD” A’li. Therefore, “Muláis” are the special followers of the “Lord A’li,” just as the Jesuits claim to be a fraternity of special followers of “the Lord Jesus.” When, then, the term “Mauláná” or our “Master or Lord” is specially used in the Druse Covenant of Initiation [see further on], there is not far to seek for the meaning of the appellation “Mulái,” though it was left for me to find it out from the A’liite songs of the Muláis of the Hindukush. Whatever the innermost coterie of the “initiated” may practise or believe, a connecting link of the sect with some existing creed is necessary for their safety or respectability. Thus, the _Ismailians_ might call themselves “_Sadiqis_” or “the righteous,” in order to spread the belief of their being special adherents of the 6th Imám, (in the order of descent from A’li), the Imám Ja’far _Sádiq_ (the righteous), without entering into the vexed question as to whether his son “_Ismàîl_” was the real “seventh” Imám or his other son, Mûsa (through whom the bulk of Shiahs look for their Mahdi or Messiah, the 12th Imám). Nor would any such special fervour in revering a particular phase or man be necessarily deemed to be heretical, even among Sunnis. I have often heard a Sunni, especially if he was a Persian scholar and the strange magic of that language had subdued him, admit the impeachment of having “a particular love for the house of A’li,” and the numerous class of Sayads, who claim to be descendants of the Prophet, is respected, if not venerated, among Sunnis, who, in theory, oppose the “hereditary” claims of Shiahs.[129] The Máulais, therefore, of the Hindukush, being, consciously or not, a sub-sect of Shiahs, can make friends with the main body of Shiahs, and yet pretend to the Sunnis as being, in many respects, with them. Normally, the Mauláis would profess to be good Muhammadans of the Shiah persuasion, leaning, however, to the 7th Imám; if surrounded by, or in danger of, Sunnis, they would _outwardly_ “conform” (which is all that the Sunnis require), and, at home, practise their own rites. The Khojas of Bombay, who had been converted from Hinduism, but whose very name is Ismailian, used to read the “Das-awtar” or “ten incarnations,” in which “A’li” is made out to be the “Tenth Incarnation,” thus rendering their step from Wishnu Hinduism to Shiah Muhammadanism an easy one. “All things to all men” is the dictum of the Muláis, without, thereby, sacrificing their own convictions. The more a Mulái knows, the more he acts on Disraeli’s sneer that all sensible men are of _one_ religion, but do not tell what that religion is. The less a Mulái knows, the more fanatically is he an A’liite, centreing however his faith on the living descendant of the 7th Imám. “Nothing is a crime that is not found out” may, or may not be, the theory among the Druses, or the practice all over the world; the fact remains that neither the Druses nor the Muláis, whatever their belief, are worse than their neighbours. Even the odious signification that attaches to the term “Assassin” has been a calumny against those misguided Ismailians who sought to rid the world of tyrants who had ordered the general massacre of the sect or who sacrificed one man in order to save a whole people.

In 1866 I discovered the languages and races of “Dardistan” and gave that name to the countries between Kashmir and Kabul, including Hunza in them. In 1886 I was again on a special mission regarding the language of Hunza-Nagyr and a part of Yasin. I had already pointed out in 1867 the importance which our good friend, His Highness Agha Khan of Bombay, the Head of the Khojas in that city, enjoyed in those, then nearly inaccessible, regions, as also in Wakhan, Zebak, Shignán, Raushan, Koláb and Derwáz, where the Muláis predominate and are governed by hereditary Pîrs or ancient sages of their own choice,[130] to whom they yield implicit obedience, as do also the covenanters with “Al-Hákim” among the “initiated” of the Druses. Of these Pîrs, Agha Khan is Chief, and any command by him would be obeyed in some of the most dangerous parts of the Hindukush. Advantage was only taken in 1886 of this hint, when Colonel Lockhart’s mission was supplied with letters of recommendation by His Highness to the Mulais. My identification of their mysterious rites with those of the Druses connects the Lebanon with the Hindukush through the Ismailia sect, which under the name of the “Assassins” enjoyed such an unenviable notoriety during the Crusades and establishes a link among the nations of Richard Cœur de Lion,[131] of Palestine and of the Pamirs. The connection of Hunza with the Huns or Hunas and the relations between the “Old Man of the Mountain” and our own Richard may be the subject of a future article. At present, I will confine myself to translating from the Persian original a Pythian utterance out of the “Kelám-i-Pîr” or “the Word of the ancient Sage,” which takes the place of the Korán among Mauláis, and of which the following is the first extract ever given from that hidden book. It was partly dictated to me and partly written out on the occasion of His Highness, the present Agha Khan, paying me a visit, by the leader of some Muláis, who had fled, first from Russian tyranny, and then from the still heavier Afghan oppression in the border-countries of Central Asia, my own Hunza man also being present on the occasion.[132] The extract was called the Mulái “Mukti” or “Salvation” Cry of the Muláis. It may be incidentally mentioned that Shah Abdurrahim in Zeibak was (and perhaps still is) the greatest Pîr in Central Asia. He controls Hunza, so far as that God-forsaken country can be controlled. In Wakhan, Khwaja Ibrahim Husain was the Mulái leader, and in Sarikul, Shahzada Makin. Sayad Jafar Khan ruled what there is of the sect in Bokhara, Balkh, Kabul and Kunduz. “_The_ Pîr” or “ancient sage,” however, was the historical Shah Nasir Khosrô, who is styled “a missionary of H. H. Aga Khan’s ancestor.” He is said to have had the complete “Kelám-i-Pîr,” a book of which I have for so many years in vain tried to get a copy, although assisted by my friend, the Mihtar Nizám-ul-Mulk of Yasin and Chitrál. The following extract from it, in one and the same breath, affirms and denies the special doctrine of metempsychosis and other notions opposed to the professed Muhammadanism of the Muláis:

* * * * *

The MUKTI or “SALVATION.”

* * * * *

The Mulái “A’QIL” or “intelligent” = “initiated” [the singular of the Druse “U’qalá” or “initiated”] first asks, in inelegant and enigmatical Persian:

* * * * *

“ALA! In what I say, can I remain _knowingly_ an Á’qil?” or “initiated” or “I remain knowingly an Á’qil, although what I say

* * * * *

1. “Come, solve for me a difficult story [or conjecture]

Come, tell me the Light which the spirit from the world-shape [this world of Phenomena]

When it becomes [gets] beyond [of] this shape, where [is] its abode and station? [place of descent = “manzil”]

Is its place [of existence] in plants or in the Higher Universe [the world above?]

Or in the Lower Universe between water, dust and clay” [or stone]? [the strata between the centre and the surface of the earth]

* * * * *

2. “If, _knowingly_, that secret, come and tell me: ‘Light’

And, if not, away! not _knowing_, without head-wandering, careless [care not]

Dear ones! The spirit of the _knowing_ when it departs from these chains,

Does it become [wend] towards the skies [heavens]? Is that its Station obtaining?[133]

Or why in the shape of man [anthropomorphic shape] is the Adamite created?[134]

Nay (?) the perfect man [ko-burd] cultured perfect,[135] or ‘the ruling man [if] perfect, develops perfect culture’

But they who are not wanted [the useless] are ignorant doubters”

* * * * *

3. “Let me tell its Commentary; every one, Come! in the ear make it acceptable.

The present is one stride [or state of a man]

When they put him outside the body

They bind him in chains; he becomes with cow or ass entering

Another time his place [of staying] is the [world of] plants. They hold him [there]

He will remain inside these chains for three years [many a year] [under] that vain curse” [this is a vain word]

* * * * *

4. AL LÁY! Helper of Chosroes![136] Such secrets to men why recklessly impart? [it only makes them impudent] Not will say ever this the _A’qil_ [or “the initiated one.”]

[The wise do not mention their religion; if they do, they only make the unwise impudent.]

* * * * *

So, after all, we have not been told the process or secret of after-life, whether ascending into air, descending into earth, renewing human life or migrating into animal, plant or stone. In fact, we are made to understand that our inquiry is folly and that its answer, whether true or not, is also folly. Yet are we allowed to conjecture the belief of “the initiated” in transmigration.

As for the Muláis “being all things to all men” in matters of religion—Sunnis with Sunnis and Shiahs with Shiahs—this is, as already stated, a mere amplification of the Shiah doctrine of _Taqqîah_ or concealment in times of danger, to which I have specially referred in my “Dardistan.”

The leaning of the Muláis is, of course, rather to poetical Shiism, with the chivalrous martyr A’li as its demigod or “next to God” in the A’lewia sect, than to prosaic and monotonous Sunniism, so that to strangers they seem to be Shiahs, as will be seen in an extract from a native Indian Diary[137] written some 20 years ago, and which, it may be incidentally stated, still throws much light on the present conflicts in Dir, Bajaur and other petty States bordering on our frontier. No stranger is allowed to see the Kelám-i-Pir, which takes the place of the Koran with Muláis, but in the most popular poem that is recited by them, the Imám-ul Zemán or Sahib-al-Zeman = the Imam or Lord of the Age (H. H. Aga Khan) is worshipped as the Monarch of this World, the visible incarnation of the Deity, offerings or a pilgrimage to whom dispenses a Mulái from prayer, fasting or a visit to the sacred shrines of Mecca or Madina, or rather the Shiah Kerbelá, the place of the martyrdom of Hasan and Husain, which Shiahs annually celebrate by what are inappropriately called “miracle plays,” but which really are “elegies,” and commemorative funeral recitations and processions. A person who has seen “the Lord of the Age” or who possesses some of the water in which he has washed his feet is an honoured guest in Mulái countries. The poem above alluded to is a parallel to the Druse “Contract” which will be considered further on, and begins with an invocation for “Help, oh Ali.”

“Nobody will worship God, without worshipping Thee, Lord of the Age!
Jesus will descend from the fourth heaven to follow Thee, Lord of the
Age!
Thy will alone will end the strife with Antichrist, Lord of the Age!
Thy beauty gives light to heaven, the sun and the moon, Lord of the Age!
May I be blessed by being under the dust of Thy feet, Lord of the Age!”

A Maulái is, if sincere, already dead to sin, and can, therefore, not commit any. He needs, therefore, no resurrection or last Judgment day. Obedience to the Pîr is his sole article of faith, and he holds his property, family and life at this Chief’s disposal.

I must now conclude this introduction to a comparison of the creeds of the Druses and of the Muláis by quoting a few words from a rhapsody of A’li, repeated by the ordinary Mauláis till the pious frenzy is at white heat:

“Oh A’li, to God, to God, oh A’li, my sole aim, the only one, our Mula A’li; My desire, the only our Mula A’li; My passion only the beauty of A’li; My longing day and night for union with A’li; Higher and Higher A’li, oh A’li; A’li is the Killer of difficulties, oh A’li; He is the Commander of the Faithful, namely A’li; _That_ one is the Imám of the steadfast in faith, namely A’li,” and so on _ad infinitum_ till we come to the natural connection between normal Shiism, its exaggeration into A’li worship, its mysterious interpretation of the self-sacrifice of Husain to save the world, and, finally, to all other aberrations of which Maulaism is one. The poem then goes into wild Turkish and Arabic measures, which exhausted my informant, Ghulam Haidar, who adds on behalf of himself, also in verse: “It is not proper that I should not answer the question which you ask me, but what am I to say? The answer from me is easy, but I see a difficulty in _your_ way. Oh Ghulam Haidar” (thrice repeated). Then in prose. “In the night of Friday, the Mulái men (in Hunza), instead of worship and prayer, taking Guitars and Drums (Rabábs and Ḍaffs) in their hands, play the above “Ghazals” on them. Then six old men, Akhunds (priests), having assembled, read (sing) them in the Mosque, when the men of the mass of the people gather and give ear to them:

‘“Yá A’li, Yá A’li, Yá Imám-i-Zemán”’—
‘“Oh Ali, Oh Ali, Oh Imám (and Lord) of the Age”’—

is the mention (Chorus) which they take on their tongues. From the beginning of the evening till the morning they thus show their zeal; the Raja then as a reward of thanks for that worship bestows (gold dust to the value of) four tilas on the priests and gives them a quantity of butter of the weight of four measures and one sheep or big calf and one maund of wheat in order to hold a feast.”

II.—THE COVENANT OF “THE INITIATED” DRUSES.

The following is a rendering of the Covenant or Contract which the U’qalá or “the initiated” amongst the Druses are reciting in mysterious seclusion. It was overheard by my informant, an “uninitiated” Druse.[138] It formed, as it were, the evening prayer of his uncle and aunt. Although an educated and highly intelligent person, he was not aware of even its local interest, much less of its general historical and religious importance.

_The Covenant = Al Mitháq_:

“O Governor [Valî] of the Age,[139] may Allah’s blessing and peace be upon him” (this phrase seems intended to delude Muhammadans into the belief that the Druses have the same Allah or God, but it has an esoteric sense which will become apparent further on). “I put my confidence into ‘our spiritual head the Lord’ (literally ‘OUR MAULA AL-HÁKIM’) (here is one of the esoteric formulæ)—‘the One, the Single, the Everlasting (Lord), the (serenely) Distinct from Duality and Number.’ (This is a protest not only against the female form of the Deity, but also against the notion of a distinct good and evil principle, an Ahriman or Ormuz, whilst its Muhammadan form would seem to outsiders to be merely a protest against giving any ‘companion to God.’) The initiator and the to be ‘initiated’ then go on repeating together the following, the former using the 3rd, and the latter the 1st, person. ‘I so and so’ (here comes name of the initiated), ‘son of such a one, CONFESS firmly the confession to which he (or I) respond from his [or my] soul, and bears testimony to it upon his spirit, whilst in a condition of soundness of his spirit and of his body, and with the (acceptance of the passing of the) lawfulness of the order, obeying without reluctance and under no violence: THAT he verily absolves (himself) from all Religions and Dogmas and Faiths and Convictions, all of them, in the various species of their contradictions, and that he does not acknowledge anything except the OBEDIENCE TO OUR MAULA AL-HÁKIM, may his mention be glorious! and this obedience it is the worship, and that he will not associate in his worship any (other) that is past or is present, or is to come, and that he has verily entrusted his spirit and his body, and whatever is to him and the whole of what he may possess to OUR MAULA AL-HÁKIM, and that he is satisfied to fulfil all His orders unto himself and against himself without any contradiction, and not refusing anything and not denying (refusing) anything of His actions, whether this injures him or rejoices him, and that he, should he ever revert (apostatize) from the religion of our Maula Al-Hákim which he has written upon his soul, and to which he has born testimony unto his spirit, that HE SHALL BE BEREFT (free) of the Creator, who is worshipped and deprived of the benefits of all the sanctions (rules, laws), and that he shall be considered as deserving the punishment of God, the High, may His mention be glorious! And that he, if he acknowledges that there is not to him in Heaven and not in the Earth an Imám in existence _except our Maula Al-Hákim_” (this confession distinguishes the Druses of the Lebanon and the Muláis of the Hindukush from the orthodox Shiahs, who believe in the coming of the ever-present Mahdi, or the twelfth Imám, a view that had been fostered by us in the Sudán to our endless confusion by our inexcusable opposition to the Sultan of Turkey as the Khalifa of the Sunnis), “then will the mention of him (who only believes in Al-Hákim) become glorious, and he will be of the _Muwáhidîn_ (who profess the unity of God), who will (eventually) conquer.” (This appellation is common to the Druses and to the Muláis, but is not admitted as being applicable to them by orthodox Shiahs or Sunnis. In retaliation they call the Sunni a dog, and the Shiah an ass.) “And (the above) has been written[140] in the month so and so of the year (chronology) of the I’d (festival) of our Maula Al-Hákim, whose nation be glorious, whose Empire be strengthened to Him alone.” (The Maulái Chronology is said to begin with the _special_ revelation of the Imám on the 17th Ramadan in the 559th year of the Hejira, at the castle of Alamût.)

_The Special Recitation._

The following is repeated by Druses at the conclusion of their prayers: “May God’s blessing be upon him who speaks (confesses) the Lord of goodness and benefits. May God bless the Ruler of the Guidances (Hidāyā); to him be profit and sufficiency. May God’s blessing be on our Lord the Hādi” (the Guide or “Mehdi” means one who is guided aright by God = the coming Messiah of the Shiah world,) “the Imám, the greatest of the perfect light” (this is an allusion to the 7th Imám, Ismail, descendant of _the_ light[141] (Mohammed)), “who is waiting for the refuge (salvation) of all living beings. On Him may be (our) trust, and from him (may be) the peace. May God bless him and them whatever passes of nights and of days and of months and of years, whenever flashes the dawn of morning or night remains in darkness may abundant peace and trust be for ever! _O Allah-humma!_” (the mystic Muhammadan remnant of Elohim = Lords, Gods) “provide us with _Thy_ contentment” (this is a play of words implying that our best “daily bread” is God’s contentment with us) “and with _Their_ contentment” (this is either a Trinitarian or Polytheistic invocation to “Elohim”) “and with _their_ intercession and with _Thy_ mercy and with _their_ mercy in this world and in the next! O our Maula! and Lord of the Imám” (this is indeed significant as to the pretensions of Al-Hákim to the godhead, or to some dignity very near it).

* * * * *

Now comes an ancient curse with a modern application and an appeal to arms (whispered along the line of assembled Druses):

“Pray for the ornament of sons,

In the East the five[142] residing (compare also the Shiah ‘Panjtan’[143] and the five main Shiah sects)[144]

They say: Father Abraham has appeared,

and they announce the good tidings to the worshippers of _One_ (the Druses).

They say: With the sword has Father Abraham appeared;

A violence to his enemies

O brethren! Prepare earnestly for the campaign,

Visiting the House of Mecca.

The House of Mecca and the sacred places,

On them has destruction been ordained.

Oh people of the Berbers! Extermination is lawful.

With the sword shall ye be sacrificed.

The French are coming with stealth.

The ‘A’ql’ [or ‘the body of the initiated’] will protect us with its sword.

Rejoice, people of China, in the hour of Thy arrival.

Welcome to thee, city of Arin (?), oh my Lady!” [Fatima?].

* * * * *

A Druse wedding-song may also be quoted here: (“Allah, billáli, billáli.”) _The Chorus_: “O God, with the pearls, with the pearls,” “Sway on to me, oh my Gazelle!” _Song_: “Thou maid who combest her (the bride’s) tresses, comb them gently, and give her no pain; for she is the daughter of nobles, accustomed to being a pet” [_delláli_]. _Chorus_: _Allah, billáli, billáli; wa tanaqqalí, yá Ghazáli!_

* * * * *

_Another Song_: “Sing the praises of the shore, oh daughters; sing the praises of the daughters of the shore; for we have passed by the pomegranate-tree bearing full fruit, and we have compared it with the cheeks of the daughters of the shore.”

(b) THE KELÁM-I-PÎR AND ESOTERIC MUHAMMADANISM.

It is not my wish to satisfy idle curiosity by describing the contents of a book, concealed for nine hundred years, the greater portion of which accident has placed in my hands after years of unsuccessful search in inhospitable regions. The fragmentary information regarding it and the practices of its followers which I had collected, were contributed to publications, like this Review, of specialists for specialists or for genuine Students of Oriental learning. Nothing could be more distressing to me than the formation of a band of “esoteric Muhammadans,” unacquainted with Arabic, which is the only key to the knowledge of Islám. The mastery of the original language of his holy Scripture is, still more emphatically, the _sine quâ non_ condition of a teacher, be he Christian, Muhammadan, or other “possessor of a sacred book.” Nor should anyone discuss another’s faith without knowing its religious texts in the original as well as its present practice.

The term “esoteric” has been so misused in connection with Buddhism, the least mystic of religions, by persons unacquainted with Sanscrit, Pali and modern Buddhism, that it has become unsafe to adopt it as describing the “inner” meaning of any faith. Were Buddha alive, he would regret having made the path of salvation so easy by abolishing the various stages of Brahminical preparation, through a studious, practical and useful life, for the final retirement, meditation, and Nirvana. Yet there are mysterious practices in the Tantric worship of “the Wisdom of the Knowable,” which Buddha alone brought to the masses that were to be emancipated from the Brahminical yoke. Even transparent Judaism has its Kabala, and the religion that brought God to Man has mysteries of grace and godliness, the real meaning of which is only known to the true Christian of one’s own sect or school. Thus open, easy and simple Muhammadanism has its two triumphant orthodoxies of Sunnis and Imamîa Shiahs and 72 militant, or outwardly conforming, heterodoxies. Indeed, as long as words can be fought over, and even facts do not impress all alike, so long will the more or less proficient professors of a creed reach various degrees of “esoteric” knowledge.

It is the unknown merit of the religious system of the so-called Assassins of the Crusades to have discussed, dismissed and yet absorbed a number of faiths and philosophies. It adapted itself to various stages of knowledge among its proselytes from various creeds, whilst the circumstances of its birth, history and surroundings gave it a Muhammadan basis. _Non omnia scimus omnes_ may be said by the most “initiated” Druse, Ismailian or “Mulái,” the latter being the name by which I will, in future, designate all the ramifications of this remarkable system of Philosophy, Religion and Practical politics.

This system elaborates the principle that all truths, except ONE, are relative. It treats each man as it finds him, leading him through stages, complete in themselves, to the final secret. We, too, in a way admit that strong meat and drink are not the proper food for babes. We speak of professional training and of the professional spirit, of _esprit de corps_, terms which all have an “esoteric” sense, and imply preparation; indeed, every experience of life is an “initiation” which he, who has not undergone it, cannot “realize;” we, too, have medical and other works which the ordinary reader does not buy and which are, so far, “esoteric” to him, but we have not laid down in practice that he, who does not know, shall not teach or rule. This has been systematized, with a keen sense of proportion, by the Founders of the Ismailian sect. Fighting for its existence against rival Muhammadan bodies and in the conflicts of Christianity, Judaism, Magianism and various Philosophies, its emissaries applied the Pauline conduct of being “all things to all men” in order to gain converts.

After the establishment of mutual confidence, a Christian might be confronted with puzzling questions regarding the Trinity, the Atonement, the Holy Communion, etc.—the Jew be called to explain an Universal God, yet exclusively beneficent to His people, or might be cross-examined on the miracles of Moses; a Zoroastrian, to whom much sympathy should be expressed, would be sounded as to his Magian belief; an idolater, if ignorant, could be easily shown the error of his ways and, if not, his pantheism might be checked by the evidences of materialistic or monotheistic doctrine; the orthodox Sunni would be required to explain the apparent inconsistencies of statements in the Korán, and the various sects of Shiahs would be confounded by doubts being thrown on this or that link of the hereditary succession of the apostleship of Muhammad; sceptics, philosophers, word-splitters, both orthodox and heterodox, would be followed into their last retrenchments by contradictory arguments, materialistic, idealistic, exegetical, as the case may be. With every creed, to use an Indian simile, the peeling of the onion was repeated, in which, after one leaf after the other of the onion is taken off in search of the onion, no onion is found and nothing is left. The enquirer would thus be ready for the reception of such new doctrine as might be taught him by the “Mulái”[145] preacher, or _Dái_, who then revealed himself one step beyond the mental and moral capacity of his intended convert, whilst sharing with the latter a basis of common belief. Now this required ability of no mean order, as also of great variety, so as to be adapted to all conditions of men to whom the _Dái_ might address himself. Sex, age, profession, heredity and acquired qualities, antecedents and attainments, all were taken into consideration. At the same time, in an age of violence, the missionaries of the new faith had to keep their work a profound secret and to insist on a covenant, identical with, or similar to, the one of the Druses, which I published in the last number of the _Asiatic Quarterly Review_. Even when confronted by Hinduism, the new creed could represent that Áli, the son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad, was the 10th incarnation of Vishnu, which is expected, as was the Paraclete and as are the Messiah and the “Mehdi” (many of those who adopted that title being secret followers of the Ismailian creed).[146] I have pointed out in my last article how the very name of ’Ali, his chivalrous character, his eloquence, his sad death and the martyrdom of his sons lent themselves to his more than apotheosis in minds already prepared by Magian doctrine and the spirit of opposition to the successful Sunni oppressor. I think that I can quote extracts, in support of this statement from the “Kelám-i-pîr” or the “_Logos_ of the Ancient,” showing how the contributor to it (for I take the “Kelám-i-pîr” to be a collective name like “Homer”), the eminent mathematician, historian and poet, Shah Násir Khosrû, who was born in the year 355 A.H. = 969 A.D. was led, after a long life of purity and piety, of abstemiousness and study, to examine and reject one religion after the other and, finally, adopt the one with which we are now concerned and of which His Highness, Agha Sultan Muhammad Shah is the present hereditary spiritual head. His authority extends from the Lebanon to the Hindukush and wherever else there may be Ismailians, who either openly profess obedience to him, as do the Khojahs in Bombay; or who are his secret followers in various parts of the Muhammadan world in Asia and Africa.[147] The present young, but enlightened, Chief is, as his father and grandfather, likely to exert his influence for good.

The following is a short biographical sketch of this lineal descendant of the prophet Áli. His genealogy is incontestable and will, I hope, be included in my next paper.[148]

“H. H. Agha Sultan Muhammad Shah was born at Karachi on Nov. 2nd, 1877. It was soon seen that it would be necessary to give him a good education, and his father, H. H. the late Agha Ali Shah, early grounded him in the history of Persia and the writings of its great poets. But this education was certainly not sufficient in the present day, and Lady Ali Shah, after the death of her husband, very wisely carried out his wishes by placing his son under an English tutor, so that, whilst Persian was by no means neglected, a course of English reading was begun. Four years ago he stumbled over the spelling of monosyllables. The progress made now is really surprising; with natural talents he has found it easy to acquire a thorough English accent and converses freely with Englishmen. The histories of Persia, India and England, the series of the Rulers of India and the Queen’s Prime Ministers, McCarthy’s ‘History of our Own Times’ and the lives of eminent men that stock his library, mark a predilection for History and Biography. The subjects of conversation during a morning’s ride are often the politics of the day or the turning points in the lives of illustrious men. But with this reading his other studies are not neglected. Algebra, Geometry, Arithmetic, elementary Astronomy, Chemistry and Mechanics, with English authors like Shakespeare, Macaulay, and Scott, form a part of his scholastic course.

“Unlike his father and grandfather, the Aga Sahib has little love for hunting, though he is seen regularly on the racecourse and is well known in India as a patron of the turf. In the peculiarity of his position it will be difficult for him to travel for some years, but his eyes are directed to Europe and he looks forward to the pleasure of witnessing at some future time an important debate in the House of Commons. From the fact that every mail brings English periodicals to his door, it will be seen that he closely follows everything that relates to English politics.

“With the work amongst the Khojahs and his other followers devolving upon him at so early an age his studies are, of course, liable to be interrupted, and it is hardly possible for him to devote himself to his books—Oriental and English—as much as he would wish to do. He is not yet married, nor does he seem inclined to marry early. A few years, however, must see him the father of a family, and there is little doubt that his children will be educated with all the advantages of the best ancient and modern education so as to make them worthy of their illustrious descent.”

How far His Highness will be himself initiated into more than the practice and rites, public and private, of so much of his form of the Ismailian Faith as is necessary for the maintenance of his position and responsibilities towards his followers, depends on his attainments, mental vigour, and character. With greater theoretical power than even the Pope, who is not hereditary, his influence is personal and representative by the _consensus fidelium_. Nearly all of them are in the first, or second, degree, even their Pirs being generally in the 3rd or 4th, with a general leaning to a mystic divine A’li, not merely the historical A’li, whom their followers see incarnated in his present living descendant. Few, if any, of the leaders are in higher degrees, for they might be out of touch with the practical exigencies of their position in different countries and circumstances. Perhaps, among the Druses, there may be one professor in the highest stage of the “initiated”—the Ninth—but even then he would take his choice of Philosophies and find a microcosm of theory and practice in each. The result on mind and character would be ennobling, and he would die, if, indeed, an “initiated” can die, carrying away with him the secret of his faith, which he alone has been found worthy to discover. What that secret is, no amount of divulging will impart to any one who is not fit to receive it, though the infinite variety of its manifestations adapt it to every form of thought or life. That even Masonic passwords may, for practical purposes and in spite of published books, be kept a secret, though possibly an open one, experience has shown, but the man does not yet exist who can, or will, apply the system, of which I have endeavoured to give a hint, to the Universal Federation of Religious Autonomies, which, in my humble opinion, the Ismailian doctrine was intended to found, little as its present followers may know of this use of the genuine ring of Truth, of which every religion, according to Lessing’s _Nathan der Weise_, claims to have the exclusive possession. If this be not enough, I will, at the outset, give the advice that the old man in Lavengro with his dying breath gave to his disciple as the reward of a life-long devotion to learn the great secret—“LEARN ARABIC”—as a variation on his “Learn German.” There is no royal road to learning or to salvation, and mental culture is impossible without the synthesis which the study of Classical languages—Oriental or European—still foster in this age of destructive analysis and of that scepticism which does not seek to re-construct.

* * * * *

Since writing above another accident has placed in my hands an evidently ancient manuscript in Persian verse, on the same or kindred subjects of Ismailian belief. The manuscript is duodecimo, about 200 pages in extent, and is written in exquisite miniature caligraphy. Its perusal may affect my decision as to the manner of dealing with the question, so far as the public is concerned; in the meanwhile, I am still in search of the name of its author, and of its date.